CHS icemen topple undefeated Franklin in a wild finish

Goalie Rich Nee had a breakout week for the red-hot Bulldogs. (Mike Barucci photo)

Riding a three-game win streak and faced with its toughest test of the season, the Canton High boys’ ice hockey team traveled to Franklin last Monday and turned in a classic performance against its biggest rival, dominating the first two periods and then holding on for dear life over the final 20 minutes for a 4-3, season-defining victory.

The win brought the Bulldogs to 7-1 on the season, while the Panthers, who went into the game undefeated, fell to 8-1.

The game had many of the ingredients of a typical Canton-Franklin showdown — solid execution on both sides, huge momentum swings, and a sweat-inducing finish.

Unlike many of the recent matchups, however, this one featured plenty of goal-scoring, including a three-goal outburst in the second period that gave the visitors a commanding 4-0 lead.

“It was almost like we were sort of shocking ourselves because that’s never really a Canton-Franklin score,” said head coach Brian Shuman, who fully expected his team to cruise to a win after building such a sizable cushion.

But the Panthers clearly had other plans, and in the final period they stormed back to life with three unanswered goals, notching the first one just a minute into the period and then adding two more five minutes later within five seconds of each other.

“We looked like we were shell-shocked at that point,” said Shuman, who ended up calling a timeout to settle his players down and remind them that they “still had a one-goal lead.”

It was at that point that the Bulldogs turned to goalie Rich Nee, who delivered what Shuman called the “performance of his career,” highlighted by a monster, 10-save effort in the final seven minutes of the game.

“He was outstanding,” Shuman said of Nee, who finished the game with 33 total saves. “He kept the rebounds outside and made several key saves through traffic.”

In addition to Nee’s heroics, Shuman also raved about the performance of junior Kyle Leavitt, who “put the team on his back” in the second period, scoring a pair of goals over a five-minute span, including one on a breakaway.

Other Canton goals were scored by senior captains TJ Duggan and Matt Malloy, who played the “best game of his career,” according to Shuman. The team also got excellent defense from Steve Mullaney, especially in the second period.

After the game, Shuman heaped praise on his players even as he lamented the final frame as “one of the most lopsided periods [he’s] ever seen as a coach.”

“But I think there’s something to be said for a team to hold on when a great team like Franklin is making a charge like they did,” he said, adding that this year’s Panthers squad is “as good, if not better” than some of the great teams of past seasons.

Meanwhile, in other action last week, the Bulldogs hosted a much-hyped North Attleboro team, and despite not playing their best hockey, they did enough to come away with a 3-0 victory.

Nee was the team’s biggest bright spot as he picked up his second shutout of the season with yet another impressive performance in net.

Canton got goals from Mike Denehy in the first period, JC Marcone in the second, and Pat Ward in the third. Assists went to Mullaney, Denehy, Nick O’Connor, Brian Hagan, and Andrew Howlett.

Despite earning a shutout win, Shuman said the Bulldogs turned in a lackluster performance and need to play better on both ends of the ice going forward.

Canton was also scheduled to play a road game versus Mansfield last week, but the game was postponed due to snow and will be made up at a later date.

This week, the Bulldogs were due to host Attleboro on Wednesday, followed by another home game on Saturday versus Oliver Ames in a battle for Davenport supremacy.

Share This Post

Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=11136